Book #409 – The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The fifth installment of the Sherlock Holmes was published in 1902, and is likely one of the most known of Holmes’ adventures. That might be just because it was introduced me by a Jack Russel terrier in a deerstalker cap. (I can’t be the only one that watched Wishbone as a child?) I also have A Study in Scarlet (the first Holmes adventure) on the List, so I’ll eventually be reviewing it as well.

This particular Holmes case is set in the moors at the family estate of the baronet Baskerville. There is a legend that a horrible hound haunts the line of Baskerville men after one terrorized a young woman some generations ago. A new Lord Baskerville has just come back to England to inherit the estate, and Holmes has been called in due to the mysterious death of the previous Lord Baskerville. Not only is the book mostly set in this week of October, it’s got the spooky setting of the moors and a ghostly hound, too!

Due to this being the fifth installment, any descriptions of Holmes and Watson are kept minimal. As there are likely very few people that don’t know the names Holmes and Watson by now, it wasn’t really all the necessary, but I do look forward to the description, if there is one, in A Study in Scarlet. Watson has an interesting way of describing other characters. It’s very succinct, almost medical (after all, Watson is a doctor), and doesn’t have a lot of the flowery-wording that seemed to pervade the other writing of the time. Although, I will say, there may have been a missed opportunity to have Holmes introduce characters with a more analytical look. However, this book contained very little of the title character, which I was a slightly sad about.

The plot itself is slow to start. Aside from the brief description of how the curse started, Watson really doesn’t start seeing the plot thicken until half way through the book. The first half of the book is introduction to the situation, then introduction to the cast of characters in and around Baskerville Hall. There’s some amount of foreshadowing and intrigue in those initial chapters, but certainly, the bulk of the story takes place after the midway point. As for the story line itself, there are clues early on as to the perpetrator, but the whole plot unveils itself piecemeal in the later chapters as more clues are brought to light. If I compare it to the other mystery from this month’s read, Doyle definitely allows the reader more insight into the solution of the mystery than Christie.

If you’re looking for a book with spooky atmosphere, look no further. Aside from the brief plot set up in London, most of the book takes place on the moors. Watson’s letters and journal take great pains to detail the ever present fog, the evading scent of the mires, and the general weariness of the landscape surrounding Baskerville Hall. It was  enough that I was actually picturing gloomy trees on little hilly islands surrounded by slowly bubbling ponds of black mud. Which is hopefully what Doyle was doing for. The descriptions of the landscape are probably one of the better parts to the book, as they add more to the book than some of the characters.

Overall, I’m looking forward to reading more of Sherlock Holmes. I have a feeling I’ve only scratched the surface. I’d certainly recommend the book, as it’s an easy read and a decently resolved plot line.

There is nothing more stimulating than a case where everything goes against you – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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Seriously? Anyone else? I can’t be the only one that remembers this show…

 (copyright PBS 1995-1998)